CARMEN MARIA GIGER

*Born in 1964, director of the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères

Carmen met Hansruedi Giger in the early 1980s, but they didn’t become a couple until 1996. They got married nearly ten years later, in December 2005. It was Urs Tremp, a close mutual friend, who brought them together. Tremp, who died in April 2014 after a long battle with cancer, often told that they would be a good match. And who could blame him? Carmen is reminiscent of the beautiful, aesthetic female figures found throughout much of Giger’s work. Hansruedi and Carmen shared not only a deep love, but also many interests such as Egyptology, mysticism, alchemy, music and art.

Carmen lives for the most part in House 1 of the three connected Giger houses (1, 3 and 5). Giger designed the connecting door to his wife’s house to resemble an Egyptian sarcophagus. Carmen’s house is not quite as gloomy but more colourful as the other two. In recent years, the kitchen in House 1 has become the gathering place for many of their friends and visitors. Over time, Carmen assumed more and more of Hansruedi’s management tasks. She has served as director of the HR Giger Museum at Château St. Germain in Gruyères since 2001.